Western nations want to chain “the Russian bear,” pull out its teeth and ultimately have it stuffed, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned. He said anti-Russian sanctions are the cost of being an independent nation.

Putin used the vivid
metaphor of a “chained bear” during his annual Q&A session
with the media in Moscow in response to a question about whether
he believed that the troubles of the Russian economy were payback
for the reunification with Crimea.

“It’s not payback for
Crimea. It’s the cost of our natural desire to preserve Russia as
a nation, a civilization and a state,”Putin said.

The president said that even if “the Russian bear” started
“sitting tight… and eating berries and honey,” this
would not stop pressure being applied against the country.

“They won’t leave us alone. They will always seek to chain
us. And once we are chain, they’ll rip out our teeth and claws.
Our nuclear deterrence, speaking in present-day terms,”
Putin said.

“As soon as this [chaining the bear] happens, nobody will
need it anymore. They’ll stuff it. And start to put their hands
on his Taiga [Siberian forest belt] after it. We’ve heard
statements from Western officials that Russia’s owning Siberia
was not fair,” he exclaimed.

“Stealing Texas from Mexico – was that fair? And us having
control over our own land is not fair. We should hand it
out!”

The West had an
anti-Russian stance long before the current crisis started, Putin
said. The evidence is there, he said, ranging
from“direct support
of terrorism in the North Caucasus,”to the expansion of NATO and the
creation of its anti-ballistic missile system in Eastern Europe,
and the way the western media covered the Olympic Games in Sochi,
Putin said.